This article was written by The Zillennial Zine’s spring editorial intern Henry Ryeder. Find him on Instagram at @henryryeder. If you would like to share an article with The Zillennial, send us an email at thezillennialzine@gmail.com.
It’s getting to be that time of year again. The multiplexes and local theaters are rolling out posters for this year’s most anticipated films. Action-packed, star-studded shoot-em-ups, this summer is sure to bring delight to the senses.
Yet for all their glory, blockbuster summers can’t quite compete with the magic silence of Criterion’s collection. If there is a direct through-line in Criterion pictures, it’s space. The camera hangs on a beautifully composed shot as our hero or heroine walks slowly across a giant expanse. Foliage sways gracefully for several seconds, marking the shot’s only movement. A conversation between main characters is punctuated by a long pause like some kind of filmic Morse Code.
It’s not for everyone. The films on Criterion vary in artistic period, personal style, identity of filmmaker, but largely adhere to a quietly rebellious aesthetic. For those seeking Argylle, Criterion might not be the best streaming platform. However, if you are seeking Argylle, your problems go far beyond picking a streaming platform…
There are hundreds of titles to choose from on Criterion at any given time. This list of the best movies on Criterion only represents a collection of my personal favorites. After all, Criterion is known for its series with filmmakers in which they share their favorite films. While this list doubtlessly comprises a fantastic array of talent, please keep in mind that it’s nonetheless a highly subjective curation.
Targets (1968)
The directorial debut of Peter Bogdanovich, Targets is a fascinating cinematic document. Starring Boris Karloff as a semi-fictionalized version of himself, Targets portrays an All-American homicidal maniac as he becomes fixated on assassinating the famous film star. A salient and prescient depiction of American mass-media, gun violence, and the political assassinations of 1968, Targets seems to portend Ted Bundy, Columbine, and John Hinkley Jr. simultaneously. There’s another reason Targets is so interesting; it marks the first official work in earnest of legendary production designer Polly Platt. Platt, whose career was brilliantly chronicled by Karina Longworth in her podcast You Must Remember This, was Bogdanovich’s wife and partner during that filmmaker’s most acclaimed output. In that span, Platt was much more than a production designer. Her work was so sewn into Bogdanovich’s films that she’s often been cited as “the true director” of The Last Picture Show, What’s Up, Doc?, and Paper Moon.Platt gets a “Story by” credit in Targets, but if Longworth’s reporting on the production of that film is any indication, Platt most likely wrote large portions of the script itself.
Nocturama (2016)
A brilliantly moving work from director Bertrand Bornello, Nocturama paints a lustrously bleak portrait of teen angst amidst the doldrums of consumerism. The film follows a group of revolutionaries as they attempt to plant bombs around the city of Paris. The action lands several trapped in a shopping mall as the antiheroes fitfully evade law enforcement. Nocturama juxtaposes capitalist malaise with the bubbling fury of a generation intent on escape. It couldn’t be more relevant now.
a.k.a. Don Bonus (1995)
A handheld, videotaped documentary, a.k.a. Don Bonus isn’t the most manicured film on this list, but it’s captivating nonetheless. Shot in the 1990’s, Bonus follows 18-year-old filmmaker and Cambodian refugee Sokly Ny as he struggles to reconcile adulthood as an immigrant in America. At a brisk 55 minutes, a.k.a. Don Bonus was clearly filmed for television debut, yet it works sublimely as a cinematic document in its own rite. Not only does its portrayal of poverty coincide with larger questions of American terror abroad (Ny’s family fled the Khmer Rouge in the 1970’s), Bonus contains a profoundly quotidian normalcy in its first-person footage. This underlies the universality of the immigrant experience, divorced from the cold, corporate romanticization of a “simpler time” (cough-cough Stranger Things.)
A Question of Silence (1982)
Playing out like an unhinged, European 9 to 5, Marleen Gorris’s feminist classic A Question of Silence displays a candor that’s anything but silent. Christine, a psychiatrist, is hired by the state prosecution of the Netherlands to investigate the murder of a shopkeeper by three women. Christine eventually sees the ostensibly unprovoked attack as an act of feminine rebellion against patriarchal oppression. As relevant today as it was in 1982, A Question of Silence eloquently contends that “civility” is in the eye of the beholder.
Heart of a Dog (2015)
There are few American artists like Laurie Anderson, a singularly self-possessed recording artist and multimedia auteur who’s occupied the American mainstream like none other in the avant-garde for nearly four decades. Heart of a Dog sees Anderson becoming vulnerably self-reflective, reminiscing on death, existence, and New York City with experimental verve. The film culminates with a song that’s both moving, haunting, and a little absurd. Par for the course for Queen Anderson.
What do you think are the best movies on Criterion? Leave a comment below!
Leave a Reply